Final Straw
by roguejedi89
Summary: A series of oneshots based on the works of Snow Patrol.  NOT songfic .  Chapters will focus on Ten/Rose romance, but may also include 9, 11, and any other companions.  Rating will eventually go up.
1. The Planets Bend Between Us

AN: This fanfiction is to be a series of oneshots (posted in non-sequential order, some not even in the same continuous universe) based on the songs and lyrics of Snow Patrol. This will not be a "songfic", but will rather take artistic cues from the feelings of the songs and will play off of some of the lyrics (essentially what I'm going for is to write a chapter where the appropriate song would fit in very well as background music). Some chapters will be plot-driven, some will be introspective, and some will be senseless fluff. Most chapters will likely lean towards the shorter side, just little peeks into the Doctor's world. I have a feeling it will be mostly Ten/Rose, but I haven't planned everything out yet, so other Doctors and/or companions could crop up. Some chapters will follow canon, some won't. This is mostly just a project for my personal entertainment, but I hope y'all enjoy it, too. :)

All of the song titles, lyrics, characters/etc. are property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended. I make no money through this endeavor. Any original characters, storylines, etc. are my own. This disclaimer applies to the entire work to follow. Reviews are encouraged and met with much love, constructive criticism is welcome, flames are discouraged. Please to enjoy.

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The frozen ridge was smooth as glass and seemed to stretch out forever. When Rose had said "exotic" she had meant more sandy beaches and fruity drinks with miniature umbrellas, but the Doctor's logic, as ever, took a left turn at "bonkers" and landed them in the Arctic Circle.

'Not exactly what I had in mind,' Rose thought as the Northern Lights flickered in and out on the horizon, 'but it is beautiful'.

"What do you think?" The doctor asked, his lanky frame and spiky hair seemingly unaffected by the arctic chill.

"It's gorgeous," Rose laughed, her breath misting in the air and floating slowly away on the wind, "but it'll take me at least a week to thaw out after all this. Maybe somewhere with a beach? Somewhere with banana daiquiris? Hint hint?"

"Oh!" the Doctor pouted loudly, "there are beaches everywhere, a dime a dozen, whole planets full of nothing but beaches, in fact, and- my love of banana daiquiris notwithstanding- I've seen most of them. But this, oooooh, Aurora Borealis shining above our heads! Nobody's even been here yet; it's the uncharted, unknown edge of the map as of now. We have the North Pole all to ourselves!"

"So, no Santa, then?" Rose through between chattering teeth, the polar jumper the Doctor had provided wasn't so bad, but it did leave Rose a few degrees colder than she would have liked.

"No, no Santa- well, not on this planet anyway. You know, I did once run into a tribe of people who traveled solely by flying sleigh. They had misinterpreted old Earth legends and-" the Doctor rambled on, but Rose had long since learned to just nod and smile when he went on his vocal jaunts.

"Tell you what," she interrupted him before he could go too far gone in his ramblings, "there's a little inlet of ocean just there on the other side of that snow bank. I'll race you to the edge, and the last one there is a rotten Slitheen".

"Oh, you're on," the Doctor's eyes glinted at the challenge.

"Alright, GO!" Rose shouted, taking off as fast as her snow boots would allow. She reached the edge of the snow ridge, the Doctor fast on her heels, and dove face-first over the ridge, sliding on her belly down to the water's edge, giggling triumphantly the entire way.

"You cheated!" the Doctor complained as he caught up a moment later.

"Just because you didn't think to wear your snow pants doesn't mean I cheated,"

"This suit is my favorite, I'm not going to soak it up just to beat some human girl at a race that she cheated on anyway," the Doctor pouted.

"Didn't cheat," Rose teased.

"Yes, you did!"

"Oi, they'll probably hear you all the way in America with lungs like that."

"Not true, America hasn't even been drawn in on European maps yet. It's only about 1270-" he broke off, licking one finger and sticking it in the air for a moment, "ah, 1277. And even if America _were_ around, we're facing the wrong side of the globe anyway," the Doctor seemed pleased with himself, switching from pouting loser back into smarty-pants mode in an instant.

"Of course, Doctor" Rose smiled, standing up and stretching her arms out as the Doctor came up to her side. The two started walking along the water's edge, the snow-encrusted rocks cracked under their boots, punctuating the slow creaking of the ice flows as they ebbed in the soft roll of the current. They said little, just enjoying the silence and beauty of the Arctic night. The midnight sky glittered above them, glowing ribbons of color flowed over a hundred million flickering stars. Even on this dark, moonless night, the Doctor could see Rose's smile illuminated under the night sky, her cheeks tinted pink in the cold.

She had no way of knowing, how could she? How could she ever imagine how everything about her plagued his every thought? Everything in him, everything about him, from every synapse in his brain to the beating of his twin hearts, every rambling word and every destination on the TARDIS, it was all for her. His Rose.


	2. It's Beginning to Get to Me

"Oi, don't you walk out on me, spaceman, I'm not through with you yet!" Donna Noble stormed into the console room, her flaming hair a fair indicator for her mood.

"Ohhh," The Doctor turned on his heel to face her, grunting through his teeth as he did so, "has anyone ever told you that you need to learn when to DROP IT?"

"No, that's not gonna work this time. God, you are _impossible_, do you know that? It's like you have a force field around ya, frozen solid," Donna continued her tirade.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," The Doctor pulled a calm façade over his bubbling anger.

"Okay, let me spell it out for ya, I could probably describe the life cycle of a star or give a detailed description of every saltwater fish in existence_ better _than I could list three things about _you_! You're so afraid of letting anyone get close to ya, and I'm sick of it."

"Easy! I'm the Doctor, I travel through space and time, and I own a TARDIS. Three things."

Donna's stare did not waver. "Listen," the Doctor continued, "this bickering is pointless. It's doing nothing but bothering the both of us because you just lash out at anything you don't like or understand."

"Yeah, that's right, I don't like it when my best mate keeps everything a secret from me. So you're the Doctor and have a spaceship, everybody knows that. What I don't know is why you stare off into space when you think you're alone in here, why you tighten up whenever I ask you what's wrong. I mean, it's a treat, really it is, that you think you need to keep up this big and strong hero business, but there is something ticking in that brain of yours and it's eating you up and if you don't reach out and let me help you I think I just might sock you."

The silence seemed to echo through the TARDIS. Donna's eyes glinted with unshed tears as she stared at the Doctor. He, ever resistant to conflict of this sort, avoided her gaze, choosing rather to stare at the oscillating pendulum at the center of the TARDIS' console as it whirred and whistled in the stillness. Pursing her lips, Donna turned on her heel, ready to storm back to her room for lack of any other non-violent option (however much she wanted to punch his lights out, she knew it wouldn't do any good).

"I can remember each and every one of them," his too-calm voice caught her just as she was about to turn into the back hall, "the last moment I saw each of them is burned into my brain, frozen in an infinite loop of bad memories and disappointments." She turned to face him, but he still could not look up, his gaze locked on the console as teal light tinted his drawn features.

"I ruin people, Donna. That's what I do. You want to know why I stare at the console? Because I remember who used to come around the other side of it. The woman I traveled with before you, Martha, I destroyed her family. Because of me, they were kidnapped and tortured for a year, and at the end of it she couldn't run away from me fast enough."

She waited for him to continue, but when he couldn't seem to find the words (probably for the first time in his life) she asked the question that couldn't go unasked, "What about Rose?"

Finally, his gaze shifted, snapping up to meet hers. "I think I've done more harm to her than anyone else. She's gone," he swallowed, trying to keep his voice steady, "and there's no coming back for her."

"The guilt of everything I've done, of everyone I've lost, I want to collapse under the weight of it. It feels like I'm gasping for air, but oxygen can only fill my lungs, not fix the heart of it all. I am constantly hounded by what I've done, but even worse-" he looked at her for a moment, brows knitting in anguish, "I know it will happen to you too."

"What do ya mean? Nothing could happen to me, not while you're around," she smiled gently.

"No, it'll happen one day. I'll ask too many questions, leave too many unanswered. I'll find a door I can't unlock or something broken that I can't fix or a person that I can't save. I'll hurt you. I won't always get there in the nick of time." He meant to go on, but the words stuck in his throat.

"Well, that's just too bad," Donna whispered, tears running openly down her cheeks now, "'cause I'm not leavin', and there's not enough brainy reasons or clever comebacks in that brain of yours to convince me otherwise. So, you're stuck with me forever, and that's that."

The Doctor knew then, as he had from the beginning, that he could do no better than Donna Noble, and, as much as her mortality weighed on him, he knew there would be time, time to travel the stars and save the universe with his best mate.

He also knew, down in the darkest part of his soul, that someone would try to take her from him, maybe even succeed, and whoever that was, his brown eyes darkened at the thought, he would smash every atom of their existence.

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The next day Donna entered the console room to find the Doctor at the helm, dashing about wildly to keep the TARDIS under some measure of control as he landed her for their next adventure. He saw her in the doorway, and gave her an animated grin. 'Back to his old self,' she thought, but deep down she knew better. Behind the mad glint of adventure, the tousled hair, and the crooked smile was a deep and bitter sadness. Like the Ood song, Donna realized, she had begged to hear that sadness, but she almost wished she could give it back…

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AN: Thank you so much to everyone for their support, I'm glad everyone is liking the story so far. :)

Jaffacakes of Doom, bite-me-im-irish, and Laura x Tennant: Thank you so much for your spectacular reviews! I'm thrilled to pieces that y'all like my story (Snow Patrol is my favorite band, too, and I can't wait to play with their songs in the Who 'verse). Hope this chapter is to your liking.


	3. Same

In the frozen silence of deep space, the dead TARDIS drifted lifelessly towards the frozen star. The interior had just started to frost over as the Doctor, Amy, and Rory came snapping out of their dream.

"This is the real one," Amy assured herself for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah, well, maybe the other one should be. At least it wouldn't be half so cold." Rory mumbled as he sat up off the floor.

The Doctor said nothing as he stared into the scanner. The frost on the exterior was growing thicker as they drifted towards the wintry sun. He tried again to tinker with the TARDIS' console, but no luck. 'What _does_ that switch do?' he wondered for a moment as his hand passed over a yet unsolved gizmo next to 'ketchup'.

"Right, thinking," the Doctor began, waving his hands wildly around both in excitement and in an attempt to increase their circulation, "we should be thinking about the dreams. What do we know?"

"We know the other one is warmer." Rory's teeth chattered as he moved to wrap his arms around Amy.

"Your arms are freezing," Amy whispered wearily.

Rory winced a little. His own fiancée didn't want him to hold her, even if it meant freezing to death. Why would she? She was so perfect. Even the clouds of her breath played across the air majestically, like she meant them to float in kaleidoscopic patterns. 'What can I possibly offer her after all this?' Rory thought to himself as he snuggled deeper into his poncho, 'I don't even have a ponytail in this world'.

"Tell you what," the Dream Lord popped in, his irritating arrogance grating the already taxed companions, "if you're so set on being warm and toasty, why don't you go in for a nice sleep? That way, Amy and I can have a nice little chat."

"No you don't!" the Doctor growled as he lunged for the Dream Lord, the bird's ominous chirping already leading him back to the other reality.

The Dream Lord smiled and waved his fingers lazily as the Doctor lowered slowly to the floor and off to sleep.

"Rory?" Amy jumped as his arms went loose around her, "Rory, what's wrong?" she tried to shake him awake, but he was already fast asleep. "What have you done to him?" she demanded, turning her fry on the Dream Lord.

"Oh, you know perfectly well," he replied with a smug smile, "they're having fun outrunning old fogies at the moment. I just wanted a moment with just the two of us"

"Why?" She demanded quickly, "Why are you doing this?"

"Now that is an interesting question," The Dream Lord pretended to go into deep contemplation, "I suppose you could treat it as a test. I'm sure you've wondered about it before, but now you get to know for sure. Do you want this life?" he gestured to the frozen TARDIS around him, "adventure amongst the stars and a dashing, wonderful Doctor who will always save you? Or," he moved over to Rory's side, "the quiet life in Upper Ledworth with a baby and a ponytail?" He sneered the last remark as he stared at the back of Rory's head.

Amy was frozen, and not from the proximity of the ice star. How could he ask something like that of her?

"Ah, I see I've got you thinking," the Dream Lord sneered, "well, that done, why don't you take a little trip?" The bird began chirping and Amy's eyes began to feel heavy.

She came awake suddenly in her nursery in Upper Ledworth. "This is the real one," she whispered again.

"Oh, thank God," Rory exclaimed as he rushed to her.

"How did I get up here?" Amy asked as she awkwardly got to her feet.

"I carried you," Rory responded, "I'm afraid you may experience some bruising…" he finished haltingly.

In a flash, it seemed, the Doctor had made his way through the upper window, and the elderly aliens were crawling all over the house.

'How can I tell what's real when they all feel so… _real_?' Amy thought, her frustration growing.

Then everything stopped.

Rory stumbled next to her, but it was all wrong. His leg was crumbling away, like dust in the wind.

"No," Amy murmured, "no, don't."

Rory gazed at her once and tried to lift his arm to her face before he disappeared completely into the sand.

"Bring him back," Amy demanded quietly, her words running automatically like a broken record as she thought only one thing.

'It was him. It was him. It was him.'

'I love Rory.'

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AN: Well, another chapter done. Short and sweet, hope y'all liked it. (FYI, just assume that the episode continues as normal after Rory gets vaporized, I just didn't think that the last ten minutes or so would fit entirely well into the chapter.) I seem to be going all over the place, 10/Rose, 10/Donna friendship, Amy/Rory, I might just have the entire extended cast by the time we're done here! As always, many thanks to all who read, review, etc. I'm glad you like my little project. :)

IndigoTardisTurtle, nerdlovescm, and bite-me-im-irish: Thank you for a trio of SPECTACULAR reviews. I'm glad the characterization is working out. Much love to my reviewers!


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